there any hope of a compromise overthefiscalcliff. we'retalkingtothe newly re-elected minority whip steny hoyer coming up next. ♪ well, it's that time of year again. you know, picture-taking season. and with photo stream, you can share all the photos you want, with just the people you want. it's as easy as pie. mmmm..pie. [ female announcer ] holiday cookies are a big job. everything has to be just right. perfection is in the details. ♪ get to holiday fun faster with pillsbury cookie dough. >>> 17 minutes past the hour here on a friday. well, the white house plan to avoid the fiscal cliff to congressional leaders, and republicans, laughed in their faces. literally in the case of mitch mcconnell. >> the plan calls for $1.6 trillion in new tax revenues, $400 billion in cuts to medicare and other entitlements, $50 billion for a new stimulus, and republicans really didn't like this one, congress would have to give up control over raising the debt limit. we want to bring in now the recently re-elected house minority whip maryland congressman steny hoyer, democrat from maryland.

morning to you. breaking the ice, president obama and john byron finally discussingthefiscalcliff. theytalkedbytelephone yesterday. with just 26 days remaining to get a deal done, there are signs of compromise on the republican side. oklahoma's republican senator tom coburn a leading conservative saying he is okay with raising taxes on the wealthiest 2% of americans. in a few moments, soledad o'brien will talk with oregon senator is jeff merkley. he sits on the budget committee. >>> naeem davis now charged with murder for allegedly pushing a man off a new york city subway platform. davis was arraigned last night on a second-degree murder charge. police say he pushed 50-year-old ki-suk han on to the tracks and into the path of an oncoming subway train. >>> internet security pioneer john mcafee could be deported to belize as early as today. guatemalan officials detained mcafee yesterday. they accuse him of entering their country illegally. he turned up in guatemala on tuesday after disappearing from his home in belize. police there want to question mcafee in connection with a murder, his neighbo

theimpendingfiscalcliff. talks, though,seem to be at a stalemate. yesterday with just 29 days until tax hikes and deep spending cuts kick in. both republicans and the democrats were running to the airwaves to try to explain their positions. here's what they said. >> what we're not going to do is extend those tax cuts with the wealthiest americans. those cost a trillion dollars over ten years and there's no possibility that we're going to find a way to get our fiscal house in order without those tax rates going back up. >> nobody wants to go over the cliff. that's why the day after the election i tried to speed this process up by making the concession to put revenues on the table. it's unfortunate that the white house has spent three weeks doing basically nothing. >> the administration has presented a plan that calls for $1.6 trillion in new tax revenues. $400 billion in cuts to medicare and other entitlements. $50 billion for a new stimulus and congress would have to give up control over raising the debt limit. republicans have indicated that they want to raise revenue by lowe

republicans want to solvewashington'sfiscalcliffdilemma,and what the democrats are saying about it.we'lltalkaboutthat, and much more with our special guest this morning, the former british prime minister tony blair is with us. but planes from iran. revolutionary guards showing off what they are claiming to be is a captured american drone. coming up why the pentagon says don't believe it. >>> and baby makes three at buckingham palace. the royal couple, will and kate, creating a media frenzy on both sides of the pond with word that they are expecting. we're going to go live to london. >> talk about this morning, in addition to tony blair, we're talking to democratic congressman xavier becerra, republican senator ron johnson from the state of wisconsin, also pat houston, whitney houston's sister-in-law and manager and jeopardy champion ken jennings written a new book. it's tuesday, december 4th, "starting point" begins right now. >>> welcome everybody, you're watching "starting point." we're honored this morning to have the former british prime minister tony blair with us as our guest. he's going t

.we'lltalkmoreaboutthefiscalcliff. >>>first a look at other stories that are making news today. zoraida has that for us. >> good morning to you. the death toll in the philippines is rising this morning. typhoon bopha moving toward beach resorts in the northern part of the country and right now it is packing winds over 90 miles an hour. that storm has already caused massive flooding and landslides in the southern philippines. dozens of buildings have been destroyed and the death toll stands at 133 with hundreds more still missing. >>> meantime in rain soaked seattle there are concerns about more mudslides. meteorologist karen maginnis joins us live from atlanta with the latest. they cannot get a break. >> they really can't, and for some folks, this is not coming as good news because it looks like that pineapple express, that moisture coming from deep within the pacific, that's going to be shut off, but we've still got the moisture coming in from the gulf of alaska and that's going to lower the snow levels across the cascades and the olympics down to around 2,000 feet or so. it h

white house tryinging to kickstartfiscalclifftalks. just33 days. congress breaks for the holidays in 15 days. >> treasury secretary tim geithner is going to try to get the talks moving today. he'll meet with congressional leaders on capitol hill. let's go to dan lothian live in washington for us. dan, tell us should americans be hopeful something will be done in 15 days? that's before congress goes on vacation. >> let's remind a little bit. it was a week ago when president obama met with congressional leaders before he went overseas. there was a sense of optimism that they could get something done. now it appear it is two sides are still very far apart. so that's why you see the president pushing this tax extension for middle class americans. the president believing this is not necessarily the answer, the comprehensive answer. it's part of the solution. he's been meeting with small business owners at the white house. with big-time ceos as well. yesterday had middle class americans who expressed how they would be impacted by taxes going up to the tune of $2200 if the middle class t

overall on theentirefiscalcliffproposaland harry reid objected to it. it's a little bit of a back and forth going on in the midst ofthesetalksthatare now reopened. >> you can't filibuster your own bill. that makes no sense. >> apparently you can. >> thank god it's friday. thank you. we appreciate the update. >>> other stories making news that are not all crazy. >> i have some craziness. we're watching the situation in egypt where opponents of mohamed morsi are gathering. the crowds are set to be calm. activists are determined to keep up the pressure and refused to descend the decree granting himself powers. his government has lost legitimacy. >>> union supporters in michi n michigan -- they are headed to the governors desk. final approval could come next week. it would make michigan the 24th right to work state in the nation. >>> chris christie explains his change of heart of president obama. check out what he told jon stewart on "the daily show." >> people have different skill sets at different times. >> so he wasn't a leader until you needed leadership? >> maybe until he was presented with a stark opportunity. >> "thursday ni